“Holy shit,” Georgina grinned appreciatively as she turned slowly on the spot, taking in the people, the bonfires, the whole glorious spectacle that was Rocky Mountain International School for Magical Enlightenment on the first day of term. It was a far cry from the drab taupe interior of her Muggle primary school, but the uniforms were still the same, dull grey. Okay so right now the funky coloured flames were off-setting the sea of monochromatic robes - oh wait it wasn’t just that. Gigi noticed that a bunch of older students weren’t even wearing their robes. Laughing a little, the tall eleven year old shrugged hers from her shoulders, muttering, “To hell with that, then.” The uniform robes were stuffed unceremoniously into her oversized satchel, squashing a young, disgruntled ferret, who quickly forgave the interruption and curled back up to continue dozing. It wasn’t that they were restrictive or uncomfortable, but the robes made her look just like everyone else. Gigi hated that. Now she was freed, her red and black plaid mini skirt that was a fraction too short on her long legs to be considered decent could be viewed by anyone who cared to look in her direction. As could the black, short-sleeved fitted blouse, white knee-high socks and black heeled mary-janes that the British girl had selected to wear that morning. Her dark brown, excessively curly hair was tamed into two plaited pigtails down her back.

A Welshman started talking, a man Gigi had heard described as ‘delightfully cheerful,’ but as the source was her Dad, who was both eccentric and forgetful, the first year was going to take that opinion with a pinch of salt. Maybe a whole cellar, if it weren’t for the fact that the Headmaster was, in fact, being delightfully cheerful right at that very moment as he introduced himself. She chuckled while she rummaged in her bag, fumbling blindly around her robes that now took up much of the internal space, and the ferret who nipped at her fingers, resenting being jostled awake for the second time in a short period, trying to find the sodding, where was that infuriating little - oh, that’s right, she’d put it in the front pocket so she didn’t lose it. When Gigi retrieved the dreamcatcher, it had morphed to grey and cream in colour. Huh. She looked at it just a moment more, and then looked up again to match it to the appropriate fire. She wasn’t a lot like her Dad, so she really shouldn’t have been surprised, but the only House she knew anything about was Cetus. No biggie, Aquila was a new challenge.

Georgina took a seat in a vacant space amongst her new housemates, promptly forgot the names of all the students with special privileges being listed off, and then there were house elves with food. She watched a couple of them curiously; she’d never seen a house elf before. They were funny-looking, but she knew they were magically powerful, and they would be in charge of feeding her, and would have access to where she slept. She planned to stay on good terms with the house elves. When one came by with a tray of meat on sticks, Gigi took a couple to try, and then she chose some sort of salad that had rice and fruit in. Her parents were both mediocre cooks at best, so this stuff was likely to be edible by comparison, but then she saw some fries and took some just in case. “You know,” she spoke pensively, her accent revealing her English homeland, “I’m tired and I’m hungry and I’m only about half concentrating,” Gigi took a bite of her meat skewer - it was pretty decent - and with it still in her mouth, she continued, “but this is epic, right? I mean the walls are moving and elves are serving us foreign food.” She swallowed, shook her head with a satisfied smirk. “Not the worst way to make an impression.”

Before Elliot Phippen left for RMI, Mama reminded him of what she said about dueling (don’t lose and don’t get caught) and Dad reminded him to write every week. Then Ariana had hugged him so tight... more

Sadie was supposed to be at the Cetus bonfire and not sitting with Elliot and the other Aquilas, but he wasn’t complaining about having one of his best friends around. Now that Uncle Hayden had... more

“No,” Sadie answered with the biggest roll of her eyes that she could muster, just to let Elliot know how much she hated that nonsense. She wanted to know where the passageways were, and her parents... more

Sadie rolled her eyes so hard that they could’ve fallen out of her head, and Elliot laughed at her tone. “Probably pretty fast,” he answered her question, although he wasn’t sure. He’d packed all of... more

Sadie couldn’t wait to start exploring Rocky Mountain International. Pretty much everyone she’d ever known in her life had worked there, gone to school there, or both. There were lots of fun stories... more

Over the past week, Grayson’s outlook on his new school alternated wildly between incredibly excited and unspeakably confused. The prospect of learning about a branch of reality that was completely... more

Instead of his family’s ranch in Oklahoma, Nolan had portkeyed to RMI from very close by in Boulder this year. About a half a mile from Pearl Street, in fact, where Nolan now owned a small amount of... more

“I got a pencil. Kinda. Will that work?” Grayson’s eye twinkled behind his glasses when he saw the pencil stub. “Perfect!” he exclaimed as he took the pencil. “This is even better! I’ve definitely... more

Nolan wouldn’t have ever described his pencil as perfect—it didn’t even have an Ever-Sharpening Charm on it—but if the first year thought it was good enough for whatever he needed to write, then... more

”You know, when you borrow stuff, you’re supposed to give it back.” Grayson blinked at the older kid. He wanted the pencil… back? Grayson turned back to the fire and blinked again. He was pretty sure ... more

The new Aquila seemed real confused about why Nolan would want the pencil he’d loaned him back. And honestly, getting the pencil back didn’t matter—like, Nolan probably would’ve forgotten all about... more

“I’m just saying,” Kaye said over her shoulder before turning back to the mirror and finishing up the heavy black liner under her left eye, “Ruben totally could have stayed over to keep you company.” ... more

Georgina had never seen a person who looked like the girl next to her. She’d seen some funny looking people, including a wizard with a beard that was as long as Gigi had been tall, and an old Muggle... more

If only the girl had seen her shoes last year. The heels had been so high that Kaye wasn’t sure she could sit on the ground if she tried. Danny used magic to make a stool for her to sit on, which had ... more

Ah, so she did come from magic. That was neat. Kaye sometimes wondered what that would be like. She really enjoyed having both Muggle and magical influences in her life, though. She was supposed to... more

“Ha, yes,” Georgina said through her food, “I’m going to be an animagus. Even if I’m something ridiculous.” She looked Kaye right in the eye as she said, “My Dad is a duck-billed platypus.” If that... more